Portable package-elevator.



T. J. ALEXANDER.

PORTABLE PACKAGE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3.191s.

1,298,52 Patented Apr. 1,1919:

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

4 & INVENTQR NEY T. J. ALEXANDER.

' PORTABLE PACKAGE ELEVATOR.

ARRLICATIQN..FILD1UNE 3.1918.

I 1,298,852., Patented Apr. 1,1919.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR 7/70/7705 J find/249w TORNEY- STATS ATEN PORTABLEPACKAGE-ELEVATOR,

Application filed June 3,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. ALEXAN- DER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of the city of Seattle, county of King, and Stateof Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPortable Package-Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

y invention relates to package or freight elevators and consists of aconstruction whereby the device may be moved, as desired, from place toplace and'so constructed as to conveniently hoist and lower ackages andfreight in warehouses, the o ject being to provide a suitable movabledevice which is adapted for the rapid and convenient handling of what isknown as package freight, this term including sacks, boxes, bales, andother containers.

The features of novelty of my invention and on which I desire patentwill be hereinafter described and then particularly pointed out in theclaims,

In the drawings I have shown my invention embodied in the form ofconstruction which is now preferred by me. This con struction is,however, not to be understood as limiting my invention to thisparticular construction, but only as illustrative of the principlesinvolved herein.

Figure 1 is a top or plan view of the device as a whole.

Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations of the device taken from positions 90removed from each other. i

Fig. 4' is a top or plan view on a larger scale of the power plant oroperating mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation on a larger scale, showing the manner ofmounting the steer- .ing wheel and the means employed for raisin andlowering the same.

ig. 6 shows a hand brake which upon the drums.

In the handling of cargo in warehouses by the plan which is mostgenerally followed where this is done by hand, it is necessary, wherethe freightis stacked at any consid erable height, to have relays of menat different elevations to elevate and pile the freight. This isexpensive on account of the labor cost and in addition, it isineilicient, as a portion of these men are working only a small part ofthe time; By my present invention I have provided means whereby the menwho do the trucking, together Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919. 1918. Serial No. 237,861.

with their loads, may be elevated to the proper height and in positionto enable them to pile the goods without other help. I

The principle of operation of my invention is to provide a hoistingplatform or cage which may be lowered to the warehouse floor, upon whichthe trucks which are commonly employed for transporting the freight maybe run, and with this, provide means fo'r'hois'ting such platform or towhatever elevation is desired, the trucker then dumping or transferringthe load to the pile, whereupon the empty truck is lowered. In takingdown a pile of this sort the operation is opposite, the truck beingempty while going up and loaded in raised position and then lowered withits load, the load being then removed to wherever the freight is to go.A tower construction is employed. This is herein shown consisting offour angle bars 1 which are placed at the corners of a rectangle, thesebeing joined at the top by suitable beams, as the channel bars 10, whichconnect the beams upon, two opposite sides and a similar central beam orbeams, 11,

which connect, the beams 10, and also furnish the support for thehoisting sheaves. The lower ends of the posts 1 are suitably connectedand braced through the means of a low floor-like structure 13. Thislatter is preferably kept thin in order to reduce as much as possiblethe elevation. which must be overcome by the truck in order to get uponthe hoistlng platform.

The hoisting platform 2 is made to fit within the angles of the angleiron 1 which form the vertical posts of the tower. It is guided and heldin place by said posts or in any other suitableand convenient manner.

The hoisting platform 2 is connected with the top of the tower. Thiscable 22 is then conducted down, passing over a pulley 25 to.

a drum 3. This druin' may be actuated by any suitable mechanism. I haveindicated an electric motor 35 which is connected by suitable reducinggears 36, 37 and 38, to the shaft 39, upon which the drums are mounted.The two drums 3 and 30 may, under some circumstances, be made integral,or connectedin such a way as to move together.

A counterweight cable 23 is also connected with the hoisting cage andpasses over other like pulleys or' sheaves 24, carried at the top of thetower,'and thence down to a counterweight 26, which is located at oneside of the tower, and may be of any suitable or convenient type ofconstruction. It is the purpose of this counterweight to provide enoughhoisting effort acting upon the cage to somewhat more than lift the cagewithoutits load. It is, therefore, necessary to provide some positivemeans'for lowering the cage when there is no load thereon. This is doneby providing a third cable 31, which extends over the drum 30, over theguide pulleys, located as previously described, across the upper end ofthe to el and thence down tothe counter-weight 26. The cable 31 leadsupon its drum oppositely from the cable 22, whereby one runs out as theother is wound in. In this manner the drum in reversing hoists thecounterweight, thus neutralizing the lifting effect of the counterweightupon the hoisting cage and thus permitting the hoisting cage to drop. Bythis expedient the work may be accomplished by the use of a motor of asmaller power than if the counterweight were not employed.

At one side of the tower structureis a frame 14 upon which is mountedthe power plant or operatin mechanism, this includin as part thereof,the two drums 3 and 30 and the electric motor 35, by which these areoperated. Where it is not feasible to conveniently obtain the currentnecessary to operate the electric motor, it is obvious that any kind ofa motor, as for instance, may be employed. I may also use/storagebatteries.

Upon this frame 14 v are mounted two wheels 4 by which the structure issupported and particularly when it is being transported from place toplace. At the opposite side of the tower structure a bracket or frame 15is placed, beneath which is placed a single wheel 41, which is used forcarrying this side of the apparatus while being moved, and which ismounted to be turned about a vertical axis so that it may act as asteering wheel. While the device is being used at anyparticular spot Imay prefer to have the hoisting frame directly supported from the floorwithout relying upon the transferring of this weight through the wheelscarrying the device. In this case I may mount the wheels so that theymay be raised and low ered after themanner which has beenillustrated inFig. 5.

The wheel 45 is therein shown as journaled between the two arms of ayoke 42, which yoke hasa central axis 43 which is threaded and whichpasses through the hub of a worm gear 44, this servin lower the wheelwit relation to the frame.

The turning of this worm wheel, that is, the

a gasolene engine,

as a nut to raise and form 2 shall be such that the platform actuationof the nut through which the oke is raised and. lowered, may be secure bmeans of a worm carried by the shafi. upon which the wheel 45 issecured. This worm is shown inFig. 1 at 46.

The yoke 42, in which the wheel 41 is journaled, is shown as providedwith arms 47 extending in opposite directions therefrom and extendingfrom each of these arms, is a cable 48, wheels or rollers 49 through thespace occupied by the bracing structure 13, which connects the bottomsof the posts 1. These cables are led over suitable guide sheaves to asmall drum carried b the lower end of a shaft 5, which is wheel 50,through operator may turn the wheel 41 to guide the apparatus, as it ismoved from place to place.

The drums 3 and- 30 are provided with a provided with a turning brakemechanism whereby the drums may be It is contemplated in this devicethat themotor by which the hoisting is secured shall be a reversiblemotor. With an eletric motor this is very simple. vWith a gasolene motorit may be desirable to provide a reversing gear. I have, however, notillustrated the same as it is well understood how this may be done.

In use, this. elevating device would be placed alongside of a pointwhere the package freight is tobe piled. The lower portion of the groundby the truckers and the elevator would have nothing to do with this. However, after the first or lower layers have been put in place, theelevator'device would be run close alongside the base of the pile thusstarted. The truckers would then run their loaded trucks upon theplatform 2, which at the time would be in its lowermost 0si-' tion, andwould then be hoisted up to a evel which had been placed direct from thewhich extends under guide band type or any which pile would be made fromthe the action of which the get 'a good view of thetrucks. The loadscarried by the trucks' would then be transferred to increase the heightof the pile as thus formed.

As the form would have to be-hoisted to a higher level. It iscontemplated that the height of the tower and the ability to hoist theplatmay pile was raised the elevator platwith the top of the baseportion of the pile v be raised to such a level that the men cantransfer the freight from this top position to the very top of the pilebeingformed. WVhen section has thus been built to the height desired,the elevator is moved to the next ad-,

' not necessary to-have relay gangs of men to raise the freight from thefloor to the uppermost parts of the pile.

When a pile of freight is to be taken down for transfer orreloading, theoperation is performed in a reverse order. The emptied trucks are takento a position alongside of the pile at their highest position.

The packages are then taken from the pile and placed upon the trucks. lVhen the trucks are loaded they are lowered to the floor and taken awayand empty trucks replace them. In this manner it is evident that aconsiderable number of laborers may be dispensed with, wherever thefreight is piled to any considerable height. Under the plan of usinghand labor for raising this freight to the top layers of the pile, it issometimes v sibly two or four,

neecssary to employ a gang of as many as twenty men, just for thispurpose. In some cases all of these twenty men excepting posmay bedispensed wlth. The shaft 57 may be connected with the axle of thecarrying wheels 4: through a drive ehain 58, or by any other suitablemeans and this connection controlled through a friction and itsoperating lever 56, whereby the device .may be self-propelled to therebyput it in position for work. I The device may be equipped with storagebatteries, as at 6, so that it may be moved about in the warehouse whendisconnected from the wires. W hat I claim as my invention is: 1. Aportable package elevator comprising a frame having u wardly extendingguide posts and a platform guided in vertical movement by said posts,supporting wheels and a hoisting plant at one side of said frame, asingle steering and supporting wheel at the opposite side of the frame,

steering cables extending from said wheel beneath the frame to thehoisting plant at the opposite side of the frame, and means for raisingand lowering said wheel. to permit resting the frame on the fioor.

2. A portable package hoisting device comprising a frame having hoistingmechanism thereon, supporting wheels by which the device may be movedabout, one side having a single such wheel, a yoke in which said wheelis mounted, said yoke having a vertical pivot shank and laterallyextending steering arms, steering lines connecting with said arms andextending to the opposite side of the frame, and means at this oppositeside for controlling said lines.

3. A portable hoisting device comprising a frame having vertical guideposts and a hoist operating mechanism, a hoisting platform guided bysaid posts, two sheave wheels supported centrally of and at the tops ofsaid posts, a platform hoisting rope passing over one of said sheavewheels and to the platform, a counterweight, a counterweight lineextending over the other of said sheave wheels and connecting thecounterweight with the hoisting platform, and a third line extendingfrom the counterweight to the hoist operating mechanism.

4.. A portable package hoisting device comprising a frame havingvertical guide postsand supporting wheels, a hoisting platform betweensaid posts, a beam horizontally supported at the upper ends of saidposts, two sheaves carried by said beam centrally over the platform, twosheaves at each end of said beam, line controlling and operating means,a counterweight, a line running from said line operating means over oneof the sheaves at one end of the said elevated beam and over one of thecentrally placed sheaves to thehoisting platform, a second lineextending from the said controlling means over apulley at each end ofthe said beam and connecting with the counterweight, and a third lineextending from the counterweight over other pulleys on said beam to thehoisting platform.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 9th day of May 1918.

THOMAS J. ALEXANDER.

